Since the city’s ‘liberation’1020 by HTS-led forces1021 and the fall of Bashar Al-Assad in December 2024,1022 Damascus remained under the control of the Syrian Transitional Government under President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.1023 Army divisions operating in Damascus governorate as of November 2025 were the Republican Guard, presumably assigned to protect the government, and the Damascus Division, assigned to protect Damascus and the capital region, both under HTS commanders. The 70th Division was assigned to the suburbs.1024
- 1020
Al-Abdeh, M., Damascus re-born: The Syrian capital is embracing its newfound identity, April 2025, url, p. 7
- 1021
Shtuni, A., From Insurgency to Statecraft: Al-Sharaa and Syria’s Foreign Fighters Test, 19 February 2026, url, p. 1
- 1022
Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Country of Origin Information Report on Syria, 30 January 2026, url, p. 8
- 1023
Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Country of Origin Information Report on Syria, 30 January 2026, url, p. 9; ISW and CTP, Assessed Control of Terrain in Syria, February 16, 2026 at 2:00 PM ET [Map], 16 February 2026, url; ACAPS, Humanitarian Access Overview - Spotlight on fragmented contexts: Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen, December 2025, url, p. 14
- 1024
ISW and CTP, The New Syrian Army: Order of Battle, 14 November 2025, url, pp. 19, 25-26, 44-45